Red Devils keep streak going vs. Waubonsie Valley

Toni Kokenis strolled out of the postgame locker room wearing a red Maryland Terrapins T-shirt.

Waubonsie Valley probably wishes she was playing in the ACC by now.

Hinsdale Central's junior point guard scored a career-high 27 points to go with 9 rebounds, 7 steals and 5 assists in the Red Devils' 53-40 win on Tuesday night in Aurora.

"Toni's amazing," Hinsdale Central coach Morgan Kasperek said. "She continues to get better every game. She makes her teammates better, and in turn they're making her better."

Kokenis' previous career high was 25 points, scored in the semifinals of the Bill Neibch Falcon Classic at Wheaton North. Kokenis followed that up with 21 in the championship game win over Waubonsie Valley, the last game prior to Tuesday for both teams.

"We did this my freshman year, too," said Kokenis, 7-0 against Waubonsie Valley over her three years at Hinsdale Central.

Kokenis overshadowed another brilliant peformance by Waubonsie Valley freshman forward Keiera Ray, who had 23 points and 10 rebounds. Several of Ray's baskets came on knifing drives to the hoop through the usually tough Hinsdale Central defense.

"She's plays so hard," Waubonsie Valley coach Kris Kalivas said, "and because she plays so hard she's all over the place. She's on offensive rebounds, she's on defensive rebounds, she's taking the ball to the hoop and she's in the passing lanes. She's doing a phenomenal job for us."

Two Ray coast-to-coast baskets, the second with 7:08 left in the fourth quarter, erased what was a 9-point Hinsdale Central halftime lead and tied it at 33-33.

But the Red Devils held strong with a quick 8-0 run of their own. Adabelle Ekechukwu scored underneath, Kokenis whistled Ekechukwu a pass for a layup, Kokenis knocked down two free throws and Katie Delaney hit a jumper off a Madison Whitley feed.

"Toni took over, and that's why she's Toni," Kalivas said. "Unfortunately, defensively we had a few breakdowns at that point, allowed them to go coast-to-coast on us for some easy baskets."

Hinsdale Central (16-0) made all 10 of its free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter to preserve the lead, Kokenis going 10 of 11 for the game.

"The girls have handled a lot of pressure and a lot of adversity this year," Kasperek said. "It's nice to know that it can get tight and we don't lose our heads."

Delaney had 9 points and 7 rebounds and helped hold Waubonsie Valley's Rachel Bostick to just 1 point. Kiki McClellan added 10 points for Waubonsie Valley (12-3), which will receive the results today from an MRI done on injured guard Jessica Morice's ankle. Morice broke a bone above the ankle in December and has not played since.